Home Buying Infographic: You vs Your Parents

I often hear from young adults today that they are finding it difficult to establish themselves in the housing market. Owning your own home is a central part of the American dream, and a pretty important milestone in any person's life, so it's bad news if young people today are having a tougher go at it than we did. But are they really?

I decided to dig up the statistics all the way back to 1979 to find out how affordable a home has been for the average American over that time period, based on median home price, median family income, interest rates, debt levels, and more. The results were both surprising and complicated, so I decided to present them in infographic form to make it easier for my readers to make sense of all the data I looked at.

Whether you're a young professional eager to buy your first home, a parent who's about to send their first child off to a college, or a real estate professional trying to make sense of current trends, pay close attention because it's time to take an honest look at how the average family has fared over the past three decades.Â